> "Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem," DHS said. "Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands. @SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.
If you watch the second video you'll notice that officers never told Padilla to back away.
> Speaking outside the Federal Building in LA's Westwood area, Noem said Padilla appeared to be "lunging" toward her and "nobody knew who he was."
There's no other evidence that Padilla "lunged" at Noem, and a lot of evidence that he didn't (skim [1], and watch 6:04-6:48 of the second video to draw your own conclusions).
> "If he had requested a meeting, I would have loved to have sat down and had a conversation with him that coming into a press conference like this is political theater," Noem said.
A Senator of California walks into a press conference about the administration's deployment of thousands of members of two different military forces to (one city in) California. Why would it be abnormal (never mind political theater) for a Senator to join a press conference?
Something I initially missed: Padilla claims that the FBI escorted him to the press conference [2][3]. The FBI could put out a follow-up tweet to confirm or deny, but I doubt that it will. Contrary to Noem's claim that "nobody knew who he was", the FBI knew, and there's a chance that Noem knew.
Another reminder that this administration does not want people to know about their freedom of the press [1]:
> A video shared by Padilla on social media then shows he was pushed facedown on the ground by three officers who then handcuff his hands behind his back. The video stops after an officer tells Padilla’s staffer there is no recording allowed “per FBI rights.”
If you watch the second video you'll notice that officers never told Padilla to back away.
> Speaking outside the Federal Building in LA's Westwood area, Noem said Padilla appeared to be "lunging" toward her and "nobody knew who he was."
There's no other evidence that Padilla "lunged" at Noem, and a lot of evidence that he didn't (skim [1], and watch 6:04-6:48 of the second video to draw your own conclusions).
> "If he had requested a meeting, I would have loved to have sat down and had a conversation with him that coming into a press conference like this is political theater," Noem said.
A Senator of California walks into a press conference about the administration's deployment of thousands of members of two different military forces to (one city in) California. Why would it be abnormal (never mind political theater) for a Senator to join a press conference?
Something I initially missed: Padilla claims that the FBI escorted him to the press conference [2][3]. The FBI could put out a follow-up tweet to confirm or deny, but I doubt that it will. Contrary to Noem's claim that "nobody knew who he was", the FBI knew, and there's a chance that Noem knew.
Another reminder that this administration does not want people to know about their freedom of the press [1]:
> A video shared by Padilla on social media then shows he was pushed facedown on the ground by three officers who then handcuff his hands behind his back. The video stops after an officer tells Padilla’s staffer there is no recording allowed “per FBI rights.”
[1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/padilla-noem-lu...
[2] https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/sen-alex-padilla-tells-m...
[3] https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/first-on-msnbc...